Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Alban Books
Pages: 184
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-5381-2767-4 • Hardback • September 2019 • $80.00 • (£62.00)
978-1-5381-2768-1 • Paperback • September 2019 • $35.00 • (£30.00)
Susan Beaumont is a consultant, coach, and spiritual director. She has worked with hundreds of congregations and denominational bodies across the United States and in Canada. Susan is the author of Inside the Large Congregation and coauthor of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in Large Congregations. She is known for engaging cutting-edge organizational practices, filtered through the lens of careful spiritual and theological reflection. Read more about her work at www.susanbeaumont.com.
Preface
1 An Introduction to Liminality: Neither Here nor There 1
2 Leading with Presence: Holding Steady
3 Tending the Soul of the Institution: Finding Soul in Place
4 Deepening Group Discernment: Seeing What God Is Up To
5 Shaping Institutional Memory: Tell Me Our Story
6 Clarifying Purpose: Who Do We Choose to Be?
7 Engaging Emergence: Are We There Yet?
Bibliography
Index
If you long to link spiritual sensitivity and vital leadership, this book is a remarkable resource. Beaumont writes for an in-between time for which none of us is prepared. With marvelous examples, she draws upon authenticity, discernment, memory, and purpose to give hope and direction for congregational leaders.
— Lovett H. Weems, Jr., distinguished professor of church leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary
The still, small voice of God tells me not to be afraid. Susan Beaumont’s book tells me how. In a time when if-then scenarios and step-by-step solutions no longer satisfy, Beaumont provides guidance on the postures and attitudes that, combined with intentionality and attentiveness, serve to render leaders effective in an era of chronic uncertainty.
— Sarah B. Drummond, founding dean, Andover Newton Seminary
Susan Beaumont has written a book that gives great insight on a time in the church that seems both precarious and hopeful. By naming the characteristics and markers of liminality she gives a name to what has already changed, and why many church leaders feel unsettled. But then she continues on, in a way that only someone with her coaching and leadership experience can, to give clear examples and case studies of how leaders can listen to the Holy Spirit to be led through the mist to the future through leadership development and communal discernment. I am grateful for her thoughtful work in this area.
— Dawn Alitz, Luther Seminary
Leadership in today’s world has more unknown and never-seen-before challenges. When we look at the old models and solutions, the answers simply no longer work. What is a leader to do? Understanding why leadership is different from ever before is the starting point to success. In this volume, Beaumont defines the liminal season of organizations and helps to normalize the new realities so many of us face. If you feel uncertain about next steps and confused about what is happening to your congregation or organization, you will find help to navigate the challenges you face. I encourage you to pick up this helpful volume.
— Phill Martin, Chief Executive Officer, The Church Network
- First congregational leadership to approach the lack leadership through a liminal (transitional) season.
Written for a general audience – more of an operating manual than academically based research guide